xangelle.com

Alrighty, so once again….nothing exciting to report.

Sorry to have kept you hanging if you’ve been back here a hundred times today looking for an update, and thinking to yourself……….”Oh, does no info mean that she’s having the baby?”

As you can see by my picture, NOPE……still pregnant.

I didn’t figure that I was having the baby today, and so I decided that I’d go shopping.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t the kind of shopping that I enjoy, as it was……..shoppping for school supplies.

After spending WAY TOO MUCH money on freaking school supplies, and not even being finished…….I came home, and went for a short walk with Jeremy.  He was happy for the one on one time, and it did absolutely nothing for me.

So, I’m almost finished shopping for school supplies, and only have a few things left to pick up.  ONe more thing off “the list” of things to accomplish.

Although, this one wasn’t a “have to finish” before the baby came.  I just figured that I’d get it done, and then hopefully I’d beat the back to school rush, and not have to do it after the baby came home when I was tired, and that I wouldn’t have to do it with  FOUR KIDS!  That one was the kicker – if you ask me.

I did manage to pull some pics of me from when I was pregnant with all three of the kids, and that is the real reason as to why this post has taken me until now to publish.  I was going to post those fabulous pictures, but need to scan them first.  Seeing as that hasn’t happened, and I’ve been exhausted after dinner, and don’t feel like doing anything then…..I’ve decided to put it off until tomorrow.

So, hopefully……..I’ll get my act together and get the scanner from down in Jon’s office and scan those beauties tonight…..or maybe I won’t, and I’ll do that tomorrow morning when I have NOTHING ELSE PLANNED TO DO. 

If nothing else, this picture to the right is an AMAZING advertisement for my Naturopath.  She has managed to work a miracle, because I’ve NEVER looked like this at almost 38 weeks pregnant, and to be honest…..I’ve not really looked this good for the past…….well…….probably since before I got pregnant with Geli…..and that was a long time ago.  I tried on a shirt this morning that I had a hard time fitting my fat arms into even when I thought I looked pretty good and didn’t weigh too much.  Guess what?  It fits everywhere except through my gut.  And not even a “squished” fit…….I was pretty excited.

Well, that about does it for today’s edition of absolute rubbish.  I’ve had one person “revise” their guess for the baby pool, are there any more of you that want to add a guess or change your existing one????????

Thanks for playing along.  Thanks for reading and leaving comments.  Thanks for your love, support and prayers.  Thanks for being here for this ride…..it’s been wild, and I hope it ends soon, so another one can begin.

Another terribly boring day with not really anything exciting to share.

I feel almost like I’m leading you on…..really…I have my babies early……honest I do……and now………NOTHING!

I know that I’m still early, but for some reason I had really hoped that this baby would come early….like……really early……not too early that it wasn’t safe, but early enough that I wouldn’t be sitting here bored to tears, but with not enough energy to really go and do anything.

I did have my big exciting NST (non-stress test) today, and there is absolutely nothing exciting to report from that except that apparently I have to be admitted to the hospital EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I. GO. IN……

I have to go through admitting, and pick a number, wait in line, and re-register, get my paperwork, and THEN go up to Labour and Delivery, and pee in the cup, and get on the bed, and get belted onto the fetal heart monitor and the contraction monitor, and sit there for half an hour and listen to my baby’s heartbeat (this is probably the best part) and then click a button every time I feel a movement.

The reason that my Dr. ordered this test was to make me feel better, but really, the only thing that’s going to make me feel better is if I HAVE THE BABY.

It doesn’t help that some poor woman was being admitted to be induced, and I’m actually further along as far as dilation and stuff goes.  SUCKS!

Well, I still have to pick up a box of chocolates to give to the nurses for when I go in, and then really and truly – I HAVE NOTHING LEFT TO DO.

I also have to wait until MONDAY to get to go in ans see my Dr for my next visit.  He’s going to a convention on Thur, Fri and Sat, and won’t be back on until Monday.

How will I ever survive 6 more days?  I know I’m whining, and really and honestly – I feel good physically.  I’m not complaining too much especially when there are those I know that have gone WAY PAST their due dates, and I’m pretty certain that I won’t have to.

The hardest part of this for me is the mental and emotional stuff.  I feel like I’ve been waiting to be pregnant, pregnant and waiting to give birth for so long (it’s been over 3 years) and I’m so close to the end, and to have the finish line in view, and to not be there yet feels like torture.  Especially when you factor in all of the other losses, and the emotional upset that loss of innocence and naivety brings with it.

I know it will happen soon, but some how soon just isn’t soon enough!  Any more guesses for the baby pool?  If your date has already passed, you are free to guess again………

Just remember that it’s the person closest to…without actually going over the date and time……weight is just for fun…….

I’ve been up since 4:30am this morning.  Doesn’t that sound like fun?  I know that I’ve been having a blast.

I laid in bed for a while, got up and wandered around the house.  I checked my e-mail, and “surfed the ‘Net” for a while.  I wandered around a bit more.  Got a glass of water, took my vitamins…….and then I decided that seeing as I had already planned on getting up a little earlier than normal (HA HA HA) and taking a shower, that I might as well just do that, and while I was in there – I might as well color my hair.

So I did!

It’s the same color that I did back a week or so after Chris first had his accident.  Just a really dark brown, almost looks black.  But, seeing as my hair doesn’t seem to hold color really well….it’ll fade to that lovely brown color along with the help of the sun before it actually grows out.  But that’s okay ’cause then I don’t look like I have roots.

I have nothing new to report as far as the pregnancy goes.  It doesn’t seem like anything is really happening.  I do have another Non-Stress Test tomorrow at 2pm…….

It’s pretty sad when that’s the highlight of my day.

I could clean, but the house is in pretty good shape, and I don’t really want to clean anything, anyway.

This is not a good space to be in.  Finished everything, and just waiting.  It makes for VERY LOOOOOOOOOONG days.

Oh well!  I’ll keep ya updated….you know I will!

Well, Here I am; and I have NOTHING to report.  Not even a tiny bit of something….just plain ol’ NUTHIN’…….

Went to church this morning.  We are finished for the summer.  Well, not finished, but we are not meeting at our regular facility for the next 6 weeks, and so that means that I don’t have any admin stuff to take care of.  I did have one job, but I’m foisting that off onto someone else, and then I’m free to just relax.

So, unfortunately, I have nothing to do, and I’m just sitting around waiting for this little boy to come along.

THAT SUCKS!

Well, I’ll keep ya posted on the fun that is my life, and hopefully I’ll have some good (exciting) news for you sooner rather than later.

I am officially 37 weeks pregnant, and that means that officially I would be classified as FULL TERM.

So, this baby could come at any point, and I’d be quite happy about that.

I spent a lot of today walking around, hoping that something would kick in, but I don’t think anything has really “kicked in”.

This won’t be super-duper fabulous long post with lots of fun details, but I do want to say that as far as the baby pool goes……I will go by date to announce the winner.

The person closest to the date without going over wins the prize.  So, if you guess the 25th, and the baby is born on the 26th, then whoever guessed the 26th or 27th or 28th or 31st or whatever the next date is…..wins the prize.

Make sense???  I hope so.

If you have a guess, leave it, and I’ll put it up.

Talk to you soon.

Maybe, I’ll be able to get a picture posted tomorrow.  I don’t think anything has changed, and they do say that you don’t really even drop with subsequent pregnancies until you’re in labour….so we’ll see.

Like my title…..I’m so original.

Get used to it, ’cause unless something happens, that’ll probably be it until I have this baby.

So, I had my doctor’s appointment this morning, and guess what?

I lost 3 pounds.  I now weigh 202, instead of 205.  I would say that has a lot to do with how puffy I am or am not.  I guess the Dr. was right when he said it was water retention due to the heat.  It’s been a really nice week heat-wise, as you can tell if you notice that I’m wearing a light sweater in the picture from yesterday.  And I’ve been so much les puffy this week, even inspite of me going for a 2 hour walk yesterday.

Well, for the run down on how things are going.  He’s sending me in to have Non-Stress Tests starting today, and then going twice a week…..not because he thinks anything is wrong, but because I told him aboutmy friends stillbirth, and he wants to monitor me just to make me feel better.  I know I’ve complained about him saying things that didn’t really apply to me, but overall, I know that he actually does care, and wants me to be happy.  Isn’t that nice?  It’ll almost be sad when I have the baby, and then have no reason to see him anymore……almost…’cause I’ll have my baby, and be busy dealing with all the fun that brings.

So, a non-stress test at 3:00pm today, and I’ve been having wicked headaches ALL WEEK, but my blood pressure was fabulous, as it always has been, and so he’s not worried about pre-ecclampsia.  I wasn’t really either, but the headaches are a nightmare.  I used to have TONS of headaches, and since going to the Naturopath – have had hardly any…so this week has not been fun. 

So, he also did an ultrasound to check on the baby’s position, and to check out the fluid amount.  Fluid level is good, and the position looks good too.  He showed me the baby’s lungs moving in “practise breathing” movements, and said that basically this baby is ready to come whenever.

He also suggested that because all signs look good, that he do a membrane sweep.  He said that this could bring on labour by irritating the uterus, or it could do nothing, but that we could continue to do it at each appointment if it didn’t work this time.  While he was digging around, he mentioned that my cervix was definately ready to go, and that I was already about 3 cm dilated.

So, I’m really hoping sooner rather than later……..

See, like I said yesterday, my news is both fabulous and exciting….  I know that after reading this that you are feeling both fabulous and excited.

Well, I’m off to attempt to tidy the house, hopefully get a walk in, and then to the NST, and then to a friends house for his birthday party. 

Talk to you soon!

Alright!  I know it’s not an official 37 week picture, but I’m bored, so deal with it.

Here I am with 23 days until my estimated Due Date.  August 11th…..UGH!  That seems like such a long ways away, and yet I know that 23 days is not a long time, and truthfully….I should have this baby before then…..please, God, please!

Actually, I mentioned that I’d had my other 3 kids one week early, three weeks early, and 2 weeks early, and while that was true if you go by the dates I had given the Doctors……the thing that I didn’t take into account, and that no one asked was if I had a regular 28 day cycle.  This is kinda more information than some of you probably care to know or will really understand, but my cycles are actually 35 days.  I have a whole extra week, and so technically my due dates should have been a week futher along than they actually were.  That would also explain why the doctors repeatedly told me that my babies were measuring about a week behind what they should have been……weird, eh?

That actually means that my kids were 2 weeks early, 4 weeks early, and 3 weeks early.  And that totally explains Xandra and all of her “issues” ‘caus in reality she was a preemie.  Not a terribly early preemie, but a preemie none the less.  And that’s what my eye doctor asked one time ’cause she has the eye problems that they usually associate with a premature baby.  Interesting, eh?

Edited to add:

This pregnancy was dated absolutely correctly because I know both the date that I ovulated, and the date that we got a little busy…….(sorry for the TMI)…….and it was calculated based on a 35 day cycle.  So, don’t be thinking that I’m actually a week behind where I should be.  This one has been measuring SPOT ON, and August the 11th is the EDD.

Any way, I’m not feeling anything……..NOTHING!  And it sucks!  I just want this show on the road.  I want to be holding my baby.  I’m not having (that I know of) any real contractions or even Braxton Hicks or anything.  Mind you, I have this really cool thing where I can’t tell if I’m in labour or not ’cause I don’t actually feel pain up until close to the end..  Stone me if you must, but the last 7 pregnancies that I’ve had have more than made up for any easy deliveries that I’ve had.

So, unless I actually have my hand on my stomach to feel the hardening….I can’t really tell as it doesn’t hurt.  Nice, eh?  But I haven’t felt any of that, and believe me, I’ve been paying attention.  When you’ve been wanting a baby for over 3 years, and you’re this close to having it happen……….believe me…you pay attention.

I’m pretty much ready to go.  I have the packable part of my bag done….everything except for the things I use daily like my toothbrush and make up.  Sucks to be waiting…..

Geli and J and I walked to the House of James today, and then to Superstore to do the grocery shopping.  I’m tired, because I’m not sleeping well, but if walking “might” possibly help to get things going or at the very least to just get my bones and ligaments ready – I’m willing to walk forever.  Now I’m tired, and my feet hurt.  More with all the fun-ness…

Well, my Grandma is making dinner for us tonight, and that is SOOOOO nice to not have to think about it, or to add to the mess that should be called my kitchen.  She’s also taken each of the kids over night for one night.  She is so sweet, and I love her dearly. 

So, I’m off to waste another hour and then we start our evening festivities.

Oh, this is a picture of me from the front.  I think it’s funny that I look more fat than pregnant from the front view.  Not that I really want to look fat, but I found some pictures from when I wasn’t even pregnant, and I look larger and weigh more than I do right now.

I’m still looking for some really good bad pictures of me from when I was pregnant with any of the other 3. 

Seriously!  You could have just set me swimming in the beluga whale exhibit, and no one would have known the difference.

I’m really hoping that I can bouce back into shape realtively easy after giving birth this time.  Or maybe if that’s too much to ask, that just the fact that I’m not 500 pounds before giving birth might help – somehow - me with being able to lose some?!?….any?!?!?…….weight after I give birth.

Oh well!  I have a Doctor’s Appointment tomorrow, and I’ll update you on the fabulous and exciting things that he says.  I’m sure they’ll be both fabulous and exciting!

Here I am…..one more week into this journey.  It’s hard to believe that I will be holding my baby within the next 4 weeks.

YAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

I am so excited, and a little bit nervous. 

How are we going to handle having a brand new baby around the house, AND dealing with 3 older kids at the same time.  It’s going to be an experience, that’s for sure.

I  have started to swell.  Well, that’s not entirely the best description of it.  My feet are HUGE…..and so sore.  I woke up this morning and it hurt to walk on them, they were so sore….AND….I have no ankles.  It sucks!  I don’t ever remember swelling this badly with any of the other kids, but this is my first time being at the end of a pregnancy in July…in the heat…..it’s lovely – really it is!

Oh well!  Hopefully, it’s not for much longer.  I don’t want the baby to come before next weekend, but any time after that would be okay for me.

I did have my 36 week appointment on Friday, and have booked my last couple of appointments with the OB.  We’re down to weekly visits and that’s so cool.

My bood pressure was perfect, and I had gained a few pounds more than I was really happy about.  Dr. Shone was so nice, and said that it was all that fluid I was retaining.  HA!  Yah right!  I only hope that’s what it is, and not just a whole bunch of fat sitting on my rear end.  I officially weigh 205 pounds, and I really wanted to end this pregnancy under 200, but seeing as that’s not going to happen, now I just want to stay under 210.  Not that I WANT to gain 5 pounds in the next couple of weeks, but let’s be realistic.  I doubt that I’m going to gain NOTHING, so I’ll be a bit more than 205, but hopefully not much.

He asked me about the time frame that I delivered my other children in.  It was kind of nice to be able to say 1 week (Angelica), 3 weeks (Alexandra), and 2 weeks (Jeremy) EARLY!  I do hope this one comes early, but hahving said that, please don’t be offended if I don’t respond if you pose that fabulous question that every pregnant woman dreads…..”Haven’t you had that baby, yet?“  Believe me, you all will be among the first to know.  I’ll let you know when I go in (barring an emergency – which I’m not expecting)  and I’ll let you know just as absolutely as soon as I can…………sooner, if possible.

This all nicely leads up to a fun little contest that I’m going to be holding.  I’m still working on a prize, but come on……isn’t the contest just fun, too?  What was that?  You want a prize…….ya, I figured as much!  Jon said to just send out a picture of the baby, but seriously – if ya really want one of those, you can just rip one off of either here or flickr ’cause I’m sure I’ll be posting WAY TOO MANY, and at that point, we’re just going to change the name of this blog to “Patti had a baby and here he is!” 

So, like I said, I’m working on a prize or maybe even two, and as soon as I come up with the PERFECT prize, I’ll let you know what it is.  Until then, if you’d like to play along, send me an e-mail to patti@xangelle.com with your guess of date, time and weight (if you want to), and I’ll post them up in the side bar.

Just so you can make an informed guess, I’ve had 3 full term pregnancies, and the stats go like this….

Geli was born 1 week early and weighed 7 pounds and 14 ounces.

Xandra was born 3 weeks early and weighed 8 pounds and 3 ounces.

Jeremy was born 2 weeks early and weighed 8 pounds and 8 ounces.

So, if you want to play along, send me your guess and we’ll both hope that you win….unless you guess something ridiculous like 2 weeks late, and 10 pounds and 14 ounces, and then I’ll be praying that you lose…..’cause that’s just mean and nasty.

I’ll be waiting for your e-mail.